Skylights and rooflights in Torquay

Torquay grew fast in the nineteenth century as a seaside resort, and it still looks like it. Large Italianate and classical villas climb the hills above the harbour, many of them rendered and painted, with tall windows and generous rooms. Regency and early Victorian terraces sit closer to the water, and rows of smaller brick or stone-and-render terraces fill the streets in Torre, St Marychurch and Babbacombe.

Many of the big villas were later divided. A house built for one family may now hold several flats, with a shared stair, a long landing under the roof and a top-floor flat in what used to be the servants' rooms. Those top floors are often the darkest and warmest part of the building, with sloping ceilings that make a wall window impractical, which is why they are so often the first place an owner asks about a rooflight.

Torquay is a town of hillsides, so houses are often stepped into slopes, with roofs at odd angles and rear gardens far below the road.

Torquay has been shaped by hotels and guest houses too, and their old bedrooms and corridors are often exactly what a rooflight is asked to brighten. Some have been turned into apartments or care homes, with deep plans, wide corridors and rooftop plant, and those larger conversions often have flat roofs over the middle of the building where daylight has never reached. They are a different scale of job from a single villa, and a different planning question.

Away from the old resort core the housing changes, and so does what a rooflight has to do. Interwar semis and bungalows, postwar estates in the higher parts of the town and newer developments towards the edges all have a place. Torquay is a town of hillsides, so houses are often stepped into slopes, with roofs at odd angles and rear gardens far below the road. That matters when a rooflight has to be carried up through the house, because the way in is rarely level.

Torbay Council is the local planning authority for Torquay, and much of the town is protected. There are several conservation areas across Torquay, covering historic streets and villa estates, and a good many buildings are listed. Which category your house is in decides the route.

A house outside any designation can usually fit a rooflight with no application, provided it stays inside the standard permitted-development limits. Inside a conservation area the allowance carries on unless an Article 4 direction has withdrawn it, so ask Torbay Council before ordering anything.

A flat has no householder allowance, so the many converted villas in Torquay need planning permission for a new rooflight.

A listed building needs consent before the outside is altered in any way, and cutting into a historic ceiling or roof structure is covered as well. A flat has no householder allowance, so the many converted villas in Torquay need planning permission for a new rooflight. Where a conservation officer is involved, a low-profile conservation rooflight on a rear slope is usually the easier route. The detailed limits are in the Devon planning and building rules guide, and the page on conservation rooflights in Devon conservation areas goes further for protected streets.

Torquay's mix of buildings means the shortlist changes street by street.

Villa top floors and loft rooms usually take a roof window on a rear slope, or a conservation rooflight where the villa is protected. Rear additions are another matter. Where an extension has a kitchen or garden room underneath, a lantern or a low rooflight on a lined kerb suits it, and a plain flat rooflight does the job on a bay top or garage roof, with the glass and kerb specified for whatever room sits below. Interwar and later homes need only a roof window for the loft, with laminated glass for the inner pane overhead as good practice.

A stairwell running up through three floors can be lit by a single rooflight at the top, and the light will travel a long way down if the lining is splayed to suit.

Stair halls in the tall villas are a Torquay special. A stairwell running up through three floors can be lit by a single rooflight at the top, and the light will travel a long way down if the lining is splayed to suit.

Whatever the product, the installation complies with the Building Regulations in force, including Part L on heat loss, and Building Control hears from us. A roof window that doubles as the escape from a loft room has to satisfy Approved Document B on size and position, so a loft conversion gets that check from us too.

A survey in Torquay begins with access. Many streets run up hillsides, with steep drives, parked cars on both sides and little space to unload, and a few of the villa roads are narrow. We look at where materials can be delivered, how a scaffold or tower would stand on a slope, and whether it would sit on the highway; scaffolding on a public road needs a licence, and we plan for that before the quote.

Inside, we measure the depth between the roof and the ceiling, identify the ceiling material and note any cornice, crack or sagging near where the opening is planned. In a flat, we also look at how the shared roof space is arranged, because a rooflight over one flat may mean passing through a space that belongs to the freeholder, whose permission you will need. On a protected house, the survey also gives us the detail to support a consent application.

The written quote reflects what the survey found, so a tall villa stair hall and a flat-roofed extension end up with very different documents. Nothing begins until you have agreed it. On site we contain the dust and clean the room before leaving, and the job carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee. To arrange a visit, fill in the form on this page, or message the team on WhatsApp, or write to the address info@brightviewskylightsexeter.co.uk if you prefer. Nearby, the same team covers Paignton and Marldon nearby, and you can see the whole patch on our areas page or start from the homepage.